US-based comedian Jocelyn Chia in an interview with The Independent said she refuses to apologise for a joke she cracked around the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.
A video of her routine went viral online after which she criticised heavily online and the Malaysian government threatened her with an Interpol red notice. Chia highlighted an “unprecedented” campaign to get her banned from comedy clubs and cyberattacks against the websites of the firms she has worked for.
What was the joke about?
While she remains surrounded by the whirlwind of criticism, Chia clarifies her routine was about the historical relationship between Singapore and Malaysia and not the 2014 flight which went missing with its 239 passengers. During her routine, Chia Picked out an audience member who happened to be Malaysian. Following this she mentioned Singapore being a “first-world country” while Malaysia remains “developing”, adding Malaysians cannot visit Singapore as their “airplanes cannot fly”, referring to MH370’s disappearance.
“What? Malaysian Airlines’ plane going missing [is] not funny huh?” Chia asked the audience. “This joke kills in Singapore.”
What happened after the joke
Chia said she was sitting by the pool with splendid mountain views when the video went viral online and she started receiving messages from her worried friends inquiring how she was doing. “The rebel in me wanted to post a photo of me of that moment from my holiday and being like, oh my god, life is so hard after being canceled by Malaysia and I really wanted to do that just to show them that, hey, you didn’t win,” she said.
Chia says right before performing her routine on April 7, the concern of her content becoming an international issue was certainly not on her mind.
Being unapologetic
Sia has said that by refusing to apologise for the joke as she wants to stand up to people who tried to kill her livelihood, while also opposing the cancel culture.
She has said that the script of her performance was tried and tested and she is not the first one to crack a joke about the airline. “It is not a taboo topic,” she added.
“I think it’s highly frustrating that I’m being vilified for doing – not even a joke about the missing airplanes. I just referenced it,” she goes on to say.
Malaysia’s reaction
Following Chia’s act, Malaysia’s national police said they would track Chia down for questioning via Interpol. The country’s Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said Chia’s performance “showed a total lack of sensitivity and empathy” topwards Malaysians and the families of the victims of MH370.
Singapore distanced itself from Chia and condemned the joke. “She certainly does not speak for Singaporeans,” Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan tweeted.
Chia’s only real regret
After her comedy routine blew up online in an expected way and amid the criticism she has faced, Chia says she has only one real regret and that is she will never be able to visit Malaysia again and the extra time she will have to spend researching extradition laws in other countries she wishes to go to.
“The most unfortunate thing is that I won’t get to go to a country that I actually love,” she says